The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 51, July 1947 - April, 1948 Page: 100
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
with color and confident spirit that outlasted the capital invest-
ment of financial seers.
It is this life, in unadorned and honest style, that Thompson
treats in his memoir that he casually calls, "They Were Open
Range Days," His stories are true to the times. Anecdote and
an understanding of cowboy humor enliven the book, as when
one cowpuncher tied a stake rope to an XIT, stray-man's saddle
after observing the rider's sore-backed horse. He "allowed that
ornery saddle with teeth might take a notion ter go sort er
pirutin' around, climb on the back er a good horse, an' knaw
at him when we ain't perceivin' it."
Where else except on the frontier could the story of the simple
burial of a man killed by a Mexican, on the ranch of an English-
man named Bushnell, be enacted? The cowboys built a coffin,
dug a grave, and buried him "near the corral." "Bushnell pro-
duced a Church of England prayerbook, which had seen better
days and more frequent uqe, and in all solemnity read passages
therefrom for the quick and the dead, while we, with uncovered
heads, stood about the grave. A cowboy, who was present, after-
wards drawled: "Henry was sure dead, but he wasn't quick."
Besides good anecdote, the book is full of factual information
on ranches and trails, solid citizens and hardy officers, animal
outlaws and renegade men. For Texas readers, from those cas-
ually interested to those downright proud of our illicit glory,
the final chapter on "Black Jack" Ketchum and his hanging at
Clayton will be good and gory reading.
J. EVETTS HALEY
Spearman, Texas
Mission Monuments of New Mexico. By Edgar L. Hewett and
Reginald G. Fisher. Albuquerque (University of New Mex-
ico Press), 1943. Pp. 269. Illustrations.
This book is one of a series of volumes in the Handbook of
Archaeological History written wholly or in part by the late
Edgar L. Hewett, dean of archaeologists of New Mexico. In a
short introductory chapter on "Myth, Legend, and History" Dr.
Hewett points out that the missions which had a "life span" of
only fifty years still stand as monuments of a great historic past,100
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 51, July 1947 - April, 1948, periodical, 1948; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101119/m1/118/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.